K. u. K. DANCES 2023
EP CD 2023, K.U.K. DANCES FROM AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY
At the very beginning of the “ENSEMBLE LYRA WIEN” career stood a first of two recording sessions we made for Austrian Radio ORF in Eisenstadt, Burgenland on 11th of June 1986. First four pieces from this EP CD have been recorded during this session and the fifth one, the famous “Ungaresca”, we recorded for the second CD by ENSEMBLE LYRA WIEN, entitled “MUSICA ANTIQUA, 11TH – 15TH CENTURY from 1993.
Preparing the CD for this year anniversary, i.e., 40 Years of our (my ex-wife and best collaborator and singer Mira Valenta) living abroad suddenly I got an inspiration for this EP CD. Why not to try to give those Croatian and Hungarian dances new “clothes” of a light pop or rock type? From the very beginning I decided to retain the original recordings,
to “iron” the slightly free, rubato, rhythm and then to add my new arrangements, programming the VST instruments or playing myself electric guitar and bass as well as Hammond – Suzuki organ.
As all the pieces belong either to the heritage of Croatian minorities in Austria and Hungary or Hungarian early or traditional folk music, I decided to call them “K. u. K. Dances”,
which stands for kaiserlich und königlich (English: imperial and royal). This abbreviation was used in the Austro-Hungarian empire to refer to empire-wide state affiliations.
I have had a great fun in doing this remix and my niece Giuliana in listening to it – so I do hope you will like it too.
Igor Pomykalo, Birkfeld and Tombolo, summer 2023
Druckversion 